Terminology

Syntax

The manner in which special characters are treated varies according to how a match condition or feature handles text values. A match condition or feature may interpret text in one of the following ways:

Literal values

Text that is interpreted as a literal value treats all special characters, with the exception of the % symbol, as a part of the value that must be matched. In other words, a literal match condition set to \'*'\ is only satisfied when that exact value (that is, \'*'\) is found.

A percentage symbol is used to indicate URL encoding (for example, %20).

Wildcard values

Text that is interpreted as a wildcard value assigns additional meaning to special characters. The following table describes how the following set of characters is interpreted:

Character

Description

\

A backslash is used to escape any of the characters specified in this table. A backslash must be specified directly before the special character that should be escaped.For example, the following syntax escapes an asterisk: \*

%

A percentage symbol is used to indicate URL encoding (for example, %20).

*

An asterisk is a wildcard that represents one or more characters.

Space

A space character indicates that a match condition may be satisfied by either of the specified values or patterns.

'value'

A single quote does not have special meaning. However, a set of single quotes is used to indicate that a value should be treated as a literal value. It can be used in the following ways:

- It allows a match condition to be satisfied whenever the specified value matches any portion of the comparison value. For example, 'ma' would match any of the following strings:

/business/marathon/asset.htmmap.gif/business/template.map

- It allows a special character to be specified as a literal character. For example, you may specify a literal space character by enclosing a space character within a set of single quotes (that is, ' ' or 'sample value').- It allows a blank value to be specified. Specify a blank value by specifying a set of single quotes (that is, '').

Important:- If the specified value does not contain a wildcard, then it is automatically considered a literal value, which means that it is not necessary to specify a set of single quotes.- If a backslash does not escape another character in this table, it is ignored when it is specified within a set of single quotes.- Another way to specify a special character as a literal character is to escape it using a backslash (that is, \).

Regular expressions

Regular expressions define a pattern that is searched for within a text value. Regular expression notation defines specific meanings to a variety of symbols. The following table indicates how special characters are treated by match conditions and features that support regular expressions.

Special Character

Description

\

A backslash escapes the character the follows it, which causes that character to be treated as a literal value instead of taking on its regular expression meaning. For example, the following syntax escapes an asterisk: \*

%

The meaning of a percentage symbol depends on its usage.

%{HTTPVariable}: This syntax identifies an HTTP variable.%{HTTPVariable%Pattern}: This syntax uses a percentage symbol to identify an HTTP variable and as a delimiter.\%: Escaping a percentage symbol allows it to be used as a literal value or to indicate URL encoding (for example, \%20).

*

An asterisk allows the preceding character to be matched zero or more times.

Space

A space character is typically treated as a literal character.

'value'

Single quotes are treated as literal characters. A set of single quotes does not have special meaning.